If you read my article about egg eating chickens, you might think I am crazy because now I’m writing about feeding crushed egg shells to chickens.  If you are hesitant, I completely understand.  I was too…until recently. While trying to solve the egg eating problem that was happening in our chicken coop, I did a […]

A local reader recently got a hold of me and asked if I was interested in taking a rooster off her hands. She lives in a downtown village setting and the law for her area states that only hens are allowed to be kept for noise purposes. Her rooster was a 3% male taken from […]

Over the past year, my coop has evolved with the seasons. During the first year I quickly learned what might have worked for the summer didn’t work well for the winter. Because my coop and pen areas are in 3 parts it allows me plenty of flexibility. The coop is for sleeping & egg laying, […]

CAMPINE CHICKEN This Breed Profile is proudly brought to you by The Livestock Conservancy! The Campine is an age old Flemish breed of poultry.  How old? Julius Caesar is also said to have taken Campine chickens home with him after he had completed a spell of looting in Belgium. Campine chickens are non-sitting fowl that […]

It’s been my experience that the more natural a life you can provide animals, the less health problems you will experience and the less money you will have to spend to keep your animals happy.   We’ve raised chickens both in a free range setting and in a contained coop and run. And even though […]

The Molt is coming.   In fact for some of you, it might already be here.   August is just around the corner and we’re already seeing signs of the seasonal molt in our flock.   Molt is a healthy, seasonal process for chickens. It usually happens in their second year around late summer to […]

Once it was clear that Uno was the sole survivor of the incubator hatch, I evaluated him. He was in rough shape. In addition to the obvious inability to move without flipping backwards, and thrashing around the brooder, the left side of his head was extremely swollen. He could not open that eye. I am […]

In this past year of caring for chickens, ducks and turkeys my days have been filled with many first-time experiences.  Over the past 5-7 years I’ve dreamed of raising chickens and have romanticized about gathering eggs each morning. After a full year of living ‘the dream’ let me share with you a summary of the […]

Profit With Poultry Sponsored By Brinsea In this episode of MOTHER EARTH NEWS and Friends Kellsey Trimble sits down with Patricia Foreman and Victoria Miller to discuss making a profit with your poultry. Many of us joke that our hobby flocks don’t pay the bills. Let’s change that! Kellsey Trimble, managing editor of Grit, enjoys immersing herself […]

As a novice poultry keeper my first year with the flock was full of new learning experiences, some requiring poultry first aid. While most days I experienced free-range bliss, it was inevitable a bird would be injured or fall sick. I came up with a great starter kit that helped me care for my chickens, […]